The present invention relates to apparatus for indicating when a container has been tampered with and more particularly comprises a cover affixed to a container with a conventional cap on the closure end of the container.
Recent events have dramatically demonstrated the need for improved tamper resistant containers to prevent adulteration of the products in the containers. Heretofore, various closure devices have been developed which require the tearing of the cap placed on the container to effect opening of the container. Such closure apparatus are illustrated in Hutaff, U.S. Pat. No. 2,109,699; Langecker, U.S. Pat. No. 3,434,613; Faulstich, U.S. Pat. No. 3,392,860; Hermann, U.S. Pat. No. 834,906; Studer, U.S. Pat. No. 3,112,838; and Vido, United Kingdom Pat. No. 1,079,417. None of these references show a cover for placement over the top of a container already having a cap thereon so that the cover prevents access to the cap.
In Sakurai, U.S. Pat. No. 3,640,417, a heat shrinkable sleeve for closing a container is disclosed. However the sleeve is provided to be placed underneath the cap. Hence, it would be impossible for a consumer to readily observe whether the sleeve has been removed or is still in place without removing the cap from the container. Consequent, the consumer could purchase a container which had been tampered with and not know it.
By contrast, the present invention provides a cover which can be positioned over any of a number of different containers with conventional non-tamper proof caps thereon to effectively make the container tamper-proof. As such the manufacturers bottle retains its identity in the eyes of the consumer. This is particularly true when the cover is provided to be either translucent or transparent so that the cap and top of the container can be observed by the consumer through the tamper resistant cover.
More specifically, the present invention includes a cover which may be either a dome shape shroud member or a heat-shrink shroud member which covers the top of a container including the conventional cap closing container. At the lower edge of the shroud portion of the cover, a safety band which is a thickened annular portion made out of the same material as the upper shroud portion is provided to extend over the annular protrusion located on the container. The safety band is made of a different color or has printings and markings on it that define indicia that do not appear on the shroud portion of the cover so that when the safety band is removed, a consumer will realize by merely observing the container.
Indeed, in order to remove the cover, a consumer must focus his attention on the safety band to effect removal of the band. Since any tampering with the cover of the present invention would result in damage to that very safety band, the consumers' attention will focus on the very item that must be effected by tampering. Hence, the consumer will be more likely to notice tampering.
The cover, in accordance with the invention, includes a pull tab which is cut into the safety band. When the pull tab is pulled, the safety band tears in such a way as to cause the cover itself to also tear along annular lines defined in the shroud portion. These tear lines may either have a circular or helical configuration. In accordance with the invention, the safety band is heat bonded or adhesively bonded to the container so that the cover cannot be removed without tearing the safety band and hence the shroud. In another form of the invention, the safety band is made out of the same material as the upper shroud portion, however the band is affixed to the shroud portion by heat bonding or adhesively bonding the safety bond to the shroud. Therefore, once the pull tab has been pulled, the safety band and shroud of the cover will be torn making it impossible to repair the cover and replace it on the container without making such repair efforts obvious to an observer. Such attempts to repair would be a clear indication of tampering whereas a lack of damage to the cover would be a clear indication that the container has not been tampered with.
It will also be appreciated that by making the safety band of a different color or with different visually observable indicia than the remainder of the cover, any attempts to remove the safety band and then replace the cover will be easily observable to the consumer since the different colored safety band will be missing.
The cover of the present invention has the advantage that it may be used over existing caps on any existing container shapes, such as bottles or tubes, with little modification to the container. Hence, the present invention provides a safety cover which is independent of the container shape or size and as such can be easily adapted to existing containers of any shape or size to make previously non-tamper proof bottles, tamper resistant. As such, the present covers can be retrofitted on safety cap bottles to maintain the container as childproof or non-childproof covers for persons such as the elderly who may have experienced difficulty with childproof covers.